first quick reflections:
on two issues: what is literature, and what is the african writer
for the latter: i understand why someone wouldn't want to be labeled,
be it by religion, nationality, continentality, or whatever. many
writers say, i am a writer, take my work for what it is, rather than,
i am a nigerian writer, take my work for a truthful reflection of
nigerian realities.
maybe there is a gulf between an abani, a tutuola, an okri, and an
achebe who once wrote the purpose of the african writer was to be a
teacher, and whose writings should give us a view onto african
realities as if through a clear pane of glass, rather than through
the distorted lenses of the conrads and graham greenes and joyce
carys of the world
can't we say, however, that there is more than one thing to be true
to in your writing? you can be true to yourself, even your self as a
thief, and as such be a great writer. most people would find that to
be the case for genet, or de sade, etc. i think the ordinary
understanding of truth overly limits us in our ability to respond to
a text, be it a poem or anything. or maybe i should say we can
respond to a text on many levels, one of which, under some
circumstances, entails the immediate political instance, like obote in uganda.
i have heard many african filmmakers take this position, that they
are not mouthpieces for "africa," that their sense of themselves need
not be given in terms of whatever "africa" means to others. you know
we are discussing the same issue as negritude and race, and how many
black writers who wanted to be read not as testifying to the black
condition just because they happened to have dark skin! start with
richard wright or ralph ellison on that one.
secondly, i loved akomfrah's response to my students this summer on
the question of truth where he said something to the effect that what
he created in his films was true to the reality it portrayed, even if
it wasn't technically correct. another notion of truth.
i would caution you not to lend a whole lot of credence to prefaces
and the like. i remember once discussing with zoe wicomb the lengthy
postface to her magnificent, complex, nuanced novel David's Story.
the postface set about to clear up every mystery, every uncertainty
in the novel itself. it was written by a scholar hired to do this by
the Women's Press, and it represented a horrible destruction of the
work of the novel. wicomb said her american publisher insisted on its
inclusion since the american audience wouldn't know what was going on
otherwise!!! she had no choice in the matter. can you believe that? incredible.
lastly, this isn't the place for an in-depth reflection on these
issues; one can certainly read entire texts from gilroy on the first
issue; and we have terry eagleton and jonathan culler who are great
thinkers who address issues like fidelity to reality in lit. my short
answer then is that the "reality" to which literature is supposed to
respond is always a "text" the moment we intend to translate it,
mediate it, into language, and that what we are "reading" in any
discussion of "reality" is simultaneously the language which is
constructing the real.
on a slightly different tack, obote, like amin, had his followers as
well as enemies. we have seen already on this list various ways of
reading the biafran conflict and its aftermath; no surprise in that.
maybe we can say there is no such thing as one truth, since when you
stand on one leg.... you know the rest
ken
At 12:49 AM 7/21/2010, you wrote:
>Hi Ken, you stated the following:
>
>"i found ikhide's review of Tropical Fish, as presented in the
>paragraph below, baffling. it castigates the book for navel-gazing
>and leads one to surmise the book is a failure in solving africa's
>problems."
>
>"i am writing only to debate one issue, however. the measure of
>success for an african novel. do we really expect the novelist to be
>the journalist, to be measured by his or her accuracy in reportage?
>to be an historian, to be measured by the accuracy of his or her
>accounting for the past? what does a writer do? what should a writer
>do? is it the fact of being african that places african creativity
>second to accuracy or mimeticism or fidelity to reality or political
>astuteness??"
>
>And my response:
>
>I sincerely appreciate your feedback. You have asked great
>questions, questions that have also been nagging at me for a very
>long time. In my book reviews and pieces on literature I have sought
>unsuccessfully to engage folks in dealing with these questions. I am
>hoping you are more successful than my humble self in prompting a
>productive conversation around those questions. They are essential
>questions and from my viewpoint, it is even more critical that
>African writers confront them courageously.
>
>If you recall Doreen Baingana had a preface to her short stories.
>The preface tried to set the historical context for the short
>stories. She spoke to Idi Amin's monstrosity and the expulsion of
>the Indians from Uganda. I sought to engage Baingana in her
>recollection of history in that preface. I wondered aloud why she
>would address Idi Amin's evil and ignore Obote's evil of the same
>time period and the same level if not more of genocide. If she had
>not provided that preface, I would definitely not have gone there.
>She has every right to write whatever fiction she desires. I will
>say that Baingana struggles mightily to ground her short stories in
>the history; indeed at times it was not clear to me if I was reading
>a short story or an non-fiction essay
>
>But then what is fiction? I do have strong opinions about the issue.
>It is simple: Fiction is a vehicle for bearing the truth of our
>lived experience. That is why writers have been imprisoned, exiled
>or murdered for writing fiction. The same writers who have been
>hounded out of dicators' lairs seem uncomfortable with the notion
>that fiction should reflect the reality and truth of our lives.
>
>There are also identity issues and many of our African writers are
>struggling with the animal called the "African writer." The latest
>example is Olufemi Terry, the 2010 winner of the Caine Prize for
>African Writing. In accepting the prize he expressed reservations
>about the title "African writer" because it is so "limiting." This
>is the same chap that applied to a prize for African writing. No one
>held a gun to his head. I call that grandstanding all the way to the
>bank and fame. Our writers have to come to the table with an open
>and honest mind. I think they will.
>
>But I thank you for your comments and for giving me the opportunity
>and inspiration for my next column. I might even name it after you,
>lower case and all, shooting (down) harrow's arrows ;-)
>
>- Ikhide
>
>Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
>
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Kenneth W. Harrow
Distinguished Professor of English
Michigan State University
harrow@msu.edu
517 803-8839
fax 517 353 3755
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